Just The Way You Are
by TheSilverWolff
Summary: "I must admit, I'm having a better time than imagined, so thank you for accompanying me Miss. Sato" -Suki&CJ attempt a second dance, and this time Ray is Suki's date. Probably OCC, but i tried!


CJ watched through the mirror as her best friend Suki Sato paced around their bedroom. She'd been at it since classes had ended- three hours ago.  
Tonight they were attempting to have another school dance, since the Rook's ruined the last one and CJ had somehow talked the Headmaster into letting them throw another one. One that actually looked as if it was from this decade and this time Suki had a mystery date, which she refused to reveal the identity of.

"For goodness sake Suki, stop pacing, you're starting to make _me_ anxious!" she stressed, turning away from the mirror.

"Easy for you to say" Suki muttered to herself before turning on her heel to face CJ, "I can't do this, I don't know what I was thinking, but I can't it. It was a terrible idea and I don't even know what possessed me to accept" she began to rant, forgetting all about CJ. Turning back on her heel, Suki continued her pacing, pulling at the faded blue material of her dress as she thought back to when Ray Snider had asked her to the dance.

_-  
She was on her way to meet CJ, Ian and Gabe at dinner when a body stepped out in front of her path. Looking up, she rolled her eyes as she came face to face with Ray Snider. Ever since the field trip two days ago she had often found herself running into him, where he insisted on making small talk. At first it was kind of cute, but now it was just getting annoying._

"_What could you possibly want now Ray?" she questioned, her eyes flitting back to her PDA as she slipped past him and continued down the hall._

"_I heard you and your little friend CJ are putting on another school dance. How did you talk to Headmaster into letting you do that then?" he questioned, falling into step with her._

_Sighing in irritation, but not shifting her gaze she replied "We tied him to a chair and brainwashed him. Is that everything?" They were nearing the nutrition hall and she could almost smell the food. She was starved. _

"_Well I was wondering if you wanted to go with me; as my date I mean?" Stopping in her tracks, Suki finally met Ray's gaze with a disbelieving look._

"_Yo-You want me, to be your date to the dance?" she questioned dumfounded. When he only nodded she shook her head and let out a short disbelieving laugh. "You can't be serious!" she exclaimed, not letting her gaze waver._

"_Why not?" he questioned, taking a step towards her and trapping her against the wall, "I think I've made it clear that I like you, and I know you'd like me too if you gave me a chance Suki" he whispered, stepping forward once again leaving nothing but an inch of space between the two of them.  
Suki couldn't deny that he was attractive, she knew it, he knew it, heck the whole school knew it. But his personality often left something to be desired. It was no secret that Ray and his friends were jokesters, but not the good kind. On his first day, they sent Ian to the buffer ring to be hazed, and Ray himself was often known to be a bit of bully. But she also couldn't deny that over the past two days he'd began to grow on her and he's also been extremely kind to her, even if it had gotten to the point of annoying her beyond belief._

"_I promise to be on my best behaviour" he said, as if he could almost see internal battle she was having. "Please Suki, just give me a chance" he pleaded, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her an adorable imitation of the classic 'puppy-eyes'._

"_Okay" she muttered, giving in after a few short seconds. Hey, the look was adorable! "But you have to promise, and I mean it, you **have** to promise not to cause trouble. This is really important to me and CJ" with a quick confirmation on his part, she offered him a small smile, then slipped from his grasp and continued down the hall to meet her friends. _

_The dance was defiantly going to be interesting, if nothing else._

"They're going to kill me" she muttered to herself as she shook the memory away, "Kill me, bring me back and then verbally assault me. They're never going to trust me again. Oh god, what if they don't let me leave with them" scenarios ran through her mind: Ian and Gabe shouting, CJ looking disappointed, Ian and Ray fighting, but they all ended the same.

Her friends no longer wanting anything to do with her.

"Okay, I can't take this anymore" CJ exclaimed, jumping to her feet and pulling Suki down to sit on the bed. She'd seen her best friend stressed; she'd seen her upset and scared but this was just too much. "You are going to tell me who your date is right now" She demanded, looking Suki in the eye. She had a thought as to who it was, but she wanted to hear it from Suki herself.

Suki tried to look away, but couldn't pull her gaze from her friend. Sighing she started to fiddle with her fingers. "You're not going to like it" she mumbled, before turning back to her friend. "It's Ray. Ray Snider"

Silence fell over the two girls, before a smile creped its way onto CJ's face. "I knew it!" she shouted, making Suki jump back a little. "I knew it the minute you wouldn't tell us who he was! Oh gosh Suki, that's so cute… in a totally weird way."

Suki couldn't believe what she was hearing. She looked at CJ oddly, who was just sat there grinning. "You think it's Cute?" she clarified raising an eyebrow, "I thought you'd be dead against it. You know, what with _Ian_ and Gabe hating him, always fighting and so on and so forth" It was no secret that CJ and Ian liked each other. It seemed that the only people who didn't know were CJ and Ian themselves, but still CJ didn't like to do anything that would upset Ian, (besides the whole Cal fiasco) and this, this was going to do more than upset him, this was going to downright tick him off.

"Well sure!" CJ smiled, "I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not the boy's biggest fan; he's arrogant, self centred and a complete bully, and I know for a fact Ian and Gabe won't like this, but it's obvious he cares about you. And besides, we can't exactly spend the rest of our time here at Tower Prep scared of upsetting Ian and Gabe. With our plans, we don't have long left so we might as well enjoy it" a knock at the door made both girls turn, a nervous frown on Suki's face, and smile still plastered on CJ's "Just don't get too attached okay Suki, It's only going to hurt more when we leave" she finished, bouncing up to answer the door.

"Uh hi CJ, is Suki there?" a voice that was undeniably Ray's, floated into the small dorm room as Suki shot from her seat and darted to the mirror. She heard CJ mumble something incoherent as she checked her makeup and hair, before CJ herself appeared behind her.

"You look fine, now go! And don't worry about Gabe and Ian, we'll handle it when we get there" giving her friend a hug and a feeble smile, Suki turned and walked to the door coming face to face with Ray Snider.  
Now there was no denying the fact that he was attractive on a normal day, but as he stood in her door way wearing a black dress shirt and dark washed jeans with a red tie hanging loosely around his neck, he looked almost godly.

They both stood staring entranced by the way the other looked. Watching from behind CJ couldn't help but roll her eyes and stifle a giggle.  
"Wow, you look; you look beautiful Suki" Ray finally managed to stammer out, his usual air of confidence escaping him for the first time. A light blush ran across Suki's cheeks as she smiled shyly at the floor before replying "You too. I mean, you look handsome" she quickly amended before meeting his gaze.

Smiling down at her, Ray silently offered her his arm, which she gladly took. Turning and giving CJ a nervous smile Suki slipped out the door, letting Ray lead her down the hallway to the dance.

SS-RS-SS-RS-SS-RS

This time around the dance was quite a success. The food was good, the music was better, and to top it off people were actually dancing. Suki had been approached by numerous people, who mentioned how well she and CJ had done this time around.  
And Ray, well Ray had been the epitome of a gentleman. He opened the door for her, pulled out her chair when she sat, fetched her drink when she got up to get one and most of all, hadn't cause any trouble at all. The only thing missing were her friends, and for some reason, she couldn't quite figure out if that was a good thing or a bad.

"Are you having a good time Suki?" Ray whispered into her ear, as he approached from behind her, his sweet cologne assaulting her senses as she breathed in the smell. Turning to face him, she let a smile grace her lips.

"Oh; yes thank you, are you? I mean, I know guys aren't really into the whole dance thing so yeah…" she rambled, not really knowing what to say. She couldn't help it; there was just something about him that made her either ramble or freeze up. The only time she hadn't been like this was a week earlier on the field trip; but that was before he had carried her all the way to the infirmary, found her in her room later that night and given her flowers, proceeded to be annoyingly nice to her and then ask her to the dance. It was like he was either annoying her senseless, or being so sweet she couldn't help but turn to jelly.

Chuckling softly, Ray smiled down at her adoringly, making her heart jump a little. "I must admit, I'm having a better time than imagined, so thank you for accompanying me Miss. Sato" Ray said in his silky drawl while bring her hand to his lips, and pressing a light kiss to her knuckles. Clearly his confidence had re-found him.

Before she had a chance to respond -although it was highly likely anything she had to say would come out as giddy rambles- she noticed his eyes focus on something over her shoulder. "Ah, it seems you friends have finally decided to join us" he muttered, failing to hide the resentment in his voice while taking a step forward to be level with her.

Taking a somewhat deep breath, Suki turned to face the door where she easily spotted CJ, Gabe and Ian. _Here we go_, she thought to herself as she watched Gabe and Ian's eyes narrow into slits as the landed on her and Ray, and then CJ whisper something to the two of them, before making her way over to her with a smile on her face.

"Hey Suki, I think we did well with this one, don't you?" CJ chirped before giving her friend a hug "Hello Ray" she offered court nod and a small smile to her friends date, which he returned no problem.

"Yeah, people seem to be really enjoying it. What took you guy's so long anyway?" She questioned CJ, not taking her eyes of Ian and Gabe who were still stood near the door, locked in what looked like a heated debate.  
Noticing Suki's discomfort Ray slid his hand into hers and laced their fingers together giving it a light squeeze, and smiling down at her when she turned to look at him.

"Ian and Gabe were doing some extra research for a class assignment and lost track of the time" CJ replied nonchalantly, however when Suki met her eyes, she saw what CJ really meant. They had been in the tunnels.

Scoffing slightly, Ray rolled his eyes. "Typical of Forrest then, although I'm surprised Archer even attempts…" his words died out as he noticed the two girls glaring at him and Suki dig her elbow into his side. Flashing them both his trademark smirk, Ray went back to watching Ian and Gabe near the door and secretly admiring Suki as she continued to talk with CJ.

Suki could feel Rays' eyes on her though; they felt like heat lamps burning holes into her skin. What was he staring at? _Do I have something on my face?_ She thought, unconsciously running her free hand over her cheek. She was promptly pulled out of her thoughts however, when she felt Ray nudge her slightly. Looking up at him, he lazily grinned but motioned towards CJ, who she now realised had stopped talking. "Sorry Ceej, what were you saying?"

CJ opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off as both Ian and Gabe came barrelling through the crowd, finally coming to a half in front of them. Gabe had his usual goofy smile on his face which never failed to brighten Suki's mood, where as Ian was eyeing both her and Ray suspiciously.

"Hi guys" Suki spoke first, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had overtaken the group. "Glad you could finally make it, I didn't think you were going to show" she joked noticing it took away some of the tension as CJ was smiling once again, and the grip Ray had on her hand had loosened.

"Well we're here now, and I must say the dance looks amazing girls" Gabe applauded, shooting CJ a smile and giving Suki a small hug while watching Ray wearily. Sneaking a glance a Ray, Suki found that he wasn't even paying attention to Gabe. No, his attention was focused solely on Ian, the two of them both openly glaring at each other.

Noticing the tension and always one to avoid confrontation Gabe cleared his throat, and gently nudged Ian who turned from Ray, but then focused on Suki with his eyes still slightly narrowed.  
"What are you doing here with him? You know he's bad news Suki" Ian stated not even attempting to keep the contemptment out of his voice.

"Suki can do whatever she wants Archer, she doesn't have to answer to you" Ray sneered, taking a step closer towards Ian while releasing Suki's hand. Touched, that Ray would stand up for her, even when she didn't need him to, Suki noticed that if something wasn't done in the next few seconds, a fight would surely break out.

Both she and CJ moved at the same time, getting between the two boys and pushing them both back a step. "You know what; we're not going to do this. Not now at least. This is a dance, not a wrestling arena, so find a partner and dance okay?" she looked at Ray first, he wasn't really paying attention, but instead glaring at the boy behind her, so she turned to Ian. He threw one last glare at Ray, before turning to Suki and giving her a pointed look.  
"We _will_ be talking later" he stated, taking another step back to be level with Gabe, CJ following his lead.

Giving a short nod to Ian, and flashing her other two friends a brief smile, she quickly latched onto Ray's hand and began pulling him towards the dance floor before anything else could be said.

SS-RS-SS-RS-SS-RS

Getting Ray onto the dance floor was a much harder feat than Suki had expected, especially because he would much rather be punching her best friend.  
"Ray!" She finally shouted exasperated, actually getting his full attention "Just let it go, please." She pleaded, "You promised me you wouldn't cause any trouble, and if all you want to do is fight then you might as well just leave" letting go of his hand she took a step back to meet his intense gaze. Silence spread between the two making Suki anxious, it was almost a deafening silence. The kind that you see in movies, that drowns out all the background noise. Yet she could still faintly hear the music playing in the back ground.

_Oh her eyes, her eyes;  
Make the stars look like they're not shining.  
Her hair, her hair;  
Falls perfectly without her trying.  
She's so beautiful;  
And I tell her every day_

More silence and even more staring; Suki began to fiddle with her hands getting even more anxious, until she saw the edge of Ray's lips curve up into a small smile. Taking a step forward, he reached up and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, before running his hand along her cheek, down her arm and to her hand, where he laced their fingers together once again and led her to the middle of the dance floor.

_Yeah I know, I know;  
When I compliment her she won't believe me.  
And its so, it's so;  
Sad to think she don't see what I see.  
But every time she asks me do I look okay;  
I say…_

Awkward silence shifted into comfortable yet nervous silence as Suki wrapped her arms around Ray's neck, and his around her waist. It was the first time they actually slow danced all evening. As they began swaying to the music, Suki rested her head on Ray's chest listening to the light thumping that was his heartbeat.

_When I see your face;  
There's not a thing that I would change  
Cause you're amazing  
Just the way you are.  
And when you smile;  
The whole world stops and stares for awhile.  
Cause girl you're amazing  
Just the way you are._

As the song continued the couple began to loosen up more, the nervousness completely evaporating leaving nothing but a comfortable silence as the pair swayed to the music, oblivious to the numerous pairs of eyes watching them.

_Her lips, her lips;  
I could kiss them all day if she'd let me.  
Her laugh, her laugh;  
She hates but I think it's so sexy.  
She's so beautiful;  
And I tell her every day._

With her eyes closed, Suki listened to both the song and Ray's heartbeat, feeling content in the moment. As the line about kissing echoed through the room, she couldn't help but giggle as Ray gave her a tight squeeze and lifted her into the air before placing her back onto her feet and continuing to sway back and forth.

_Oh you know, you know, you know  
Id never ask you to change;  
If perfect is what you're searching for  
Then just stay the same.  
So don't even bother asking;  
If you look okay  
You know I say…_

Pulling her from his chest, Ray gave Suki a devilish grin and took her hand in his before spinning her slowly around twice, then pulling her back to him, wrapping his arms back around her petite waist and watching as began giggling. He wouldn't have been lying if he's said he'd never been happy right in that moment.

_When I see your face;  
There's not a thing that I would change  
Cause you're amazing  
Just the way you are.  
And when you smile;  
The whole world stops and stares for awhile  
Cause girl you're amazing  
Just the way you are._

Following the gentle pull of Ray's hand, Suki lifted her head to meet his gaze and her heart melted. With a soft smile gracing his face, Ray stared down at Suki with the most adoring look while mouthing the words to the song, meaning every word.

_The way you are;  
The way you are.  
Girl you're amazing;  
Just the way you are._

Throwing caution to the wind and acting on pure impulse, Suki grasped the tie hanging around Ray's neck, and brought his head down, their lips meeting in the middle. Passion, adoration and longing poured into the single kiss, both Ray and Suki once again oblivious to the wide eyes watching them from all corners of the room.

Suki knew she was going to have to face Ian and her friends later, she knew that eventually she would have to face facts; that her, CJ, Ian and Gabe were going to escape someday soon and she would have to leave Ray behind. But in that moment, she was perfectly content in forgetting all of that, because right then, in that single moment she was actually happy.  
And that was more than enough for her.

_When I see your face;  
There's not a thing that I would change  
Cause you're amazing  
Just the way you are.  
And when you smile;  
The whole world stops and stares for awhile  
Cause girl you're amazing  
Just the way you are._

FIN.

**[OhmyG this took me HOURS to write, and I'm still not 100% sure I like some parts, mainly the beginning section, but tell me what you think. This is my first Ray/Suki fanfic, so I apologize for the crappy-ness and OOC of it all, but I'll make sure the second one (When I finally decided to start writing it) won't suck so badly. Anyway if you notice any mistakes please let me know so I can rectify them, and also what would you guys think to a follow up chapter, about when Suki has to face her friends. I don't know, I have an idea but I'm not so sure, so give me your opinion.**  
**Thankyou for reading anyway! You all rock and deserve a cookie ^.^]**


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